I’m getting a steady trickle of emails like this on in response to my boiling-blood post last week:

While my military retirement (one year away, alas) is also “guaranteed by amount” versus a 401K, I find it interesting that I, and other military officers with 20 years of service in the a-holes of the world (Iraq, Afghanistan), will retire with annual pay of just a little over what Mr. Hunderfund will receive monthly.
Knowing what I know now, I concede that I’ve made a grievous financial error in defending my country instead of getting my doctorate in Education Principles and Management and working for the NY Education Dept.
My advice to my nieces and nephews about to enter the workforce? Find a government job post-haste, and preferably one like Education or Eco-(fill in the blank) that has very strong liberal support. Or move to Australia/Singapore/Hong Kong.

[Me] So I guess my longstanding advice to the youth of America needs slight qualification: Get a civilian government job. The military, like the private sector, is for suckers.